Telenet Ostend got closer to clinch a Last 32 spot in Group A by topping Artland Dragons Quakenbrueck XX-XX at home on Wednesday. Ostend improved to 5-2 and could qualify as close as next week if it beats FoxTown Cantu and CEZ Basketball Nymburk downs Le Mans. Quakenbrueck dropped to 1-6 and is all but mathematically out of chances to advance. Andrija Stipanovic paced the winners with 20 points on 10-of-14 two-point shots. Mateusz Ponitka added 12 while Dusan Djordjevic and Quentin Serron each had 10 for Ostend. Brandon Thomas led Quakenbrueck with 19 points. Kenneth Frease added 14 while Anthony King had 11 for Quakenbrueck, which led 15-16 late in the third quarter. An 11-0 run that Jean Salumu capped with a triple put Ostend ahead for good, 26-16. Quakenbrueck rallied within 33-30 but Dusan Djordjevic and Stipanovic led a 12-0 run that broke the game open open, 45-30. Ostend improved its margin to 65-47 after 30 minutes and then again to 75-52 right after that, enough to seal the outcome long before the final buzzer.

A three-pointer by Acha Njei and an outstanding Thomas allowed Quakenbrueck to get an early 5-7 lead. Back-to-back baskets by Stipanovic and another one by Serron gave Ostend its first lead, 11-10. A layup by Frease put Quakenbrueck back ahead, 15-16, but 6 unanswered points by Ponitka gave Ostend a 21-16 edge after 10 minutes. A three-pointer by Salumu capped an 11-0 run that bridged between the opening two quarters, giving Ostend a 26-16 margin. A layup by Niels Marnegrave soon made it a 13-point game, 31-18. Guido Grunheid and Antonio Graves, however, fueled a 2-12 run that brought Quakenbrueck as close as 33-30. Djordjevic and Stipanovic restored a 39-30 Ostend margin at halftime. Stipanovic scored twice after the break and a layup by Pierre Antoine Gillet capped a 12-0 Ostend run that bridged between both halves. Grunheid and Thomas buried respective three-pointers but Quakenbrueck only managed to trade baskets, as another layup by Stipanovic gave Ostend a 53-36 margin. Ryan Thompson stepped up for Ostend and got help from Serron and Jared Berggren to break the game open, 65-47, at the end of the third quarter. King and Grunheid tried to change things for Quakenbrueck but Ostend stayed fully focused and a three-pointer by Ponitka sealed the outcome, 75-52. Nothing changed in the final 7 minutes, as Ostend had plenty of time to celebrate a very important win.